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Lessons

Knowledge Gleaned from the NEO Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Sharing Lessons and Resources to Advance the Ecosystem

Intersections

By the very nature of our work, much of the Foundation’s activity occurs at the frontiers, and the intersections, of various areas of intellectual pursuit. From private enterprise to academia, from government to grassroots community organizations, we engage with thought leaders from many walks of life in advancing the cause of entrepreneurship.

That’s why we’ve named our research publication series Intersections. This periodic report is designed to provide useful and easily digestible updates to our many stakeholders and collaborators about what we’ve learned.

Our first Intersections publication, released in 2017, examines learnings from the Northeast Ohio Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program (NEOCEP) initiative, as we marked the ten-year anniversary of its launch.

Our second Intersections publication is an in-depth exploration of youth entrepreneurship education in Northeast Ohio that presents four case studies which each outline a different model of excellence within the Foundation’s portfolio.

Pitch Training Materials

Through the Foundation's Entrepreneurship Education Experiment, Morgan Foundation's first Fellow Dr. Scott Shane, along with his team, have assembled training materials, culled from research into actual investor pitches that prepare aspiring entrepreneurs to more successfully present their venture ideas. These materials include:

Summary of research results from pitch competition field experiments

Video clips of actual pitches to panels of investors

Summary of scholarly research into such subjects as the effect of style and content training on pitch performance

MOOC E-Book

Beyond Silicon Valley: 20 Entrepreneurial Successes (And How One MOOC Spawned Them)Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies (BSV), has spread its messages around the globe engaging thousands of entrepreneurs in a worldwide network of startup visionaries. Conceived in 2013 by Professor Michael Goldberg, BSV developed as a way to share the lessons learned from the burgeoning Northeast Ohio entrepreneurial ecosystem, capitalizing on the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) as the vehicle to accomplish this audacious goal.

Goldberg’s new book, Beyond Silicon Valley, was released in 2018 and chronicles his personal interactions with entrepreneurs on a global scale coupled with first-hand accounts of the innumerable ways BSV participants have deployed its lessons. The book simultaneously captures Goldberg’s own entrepreneurial journey as he experiments with the potential of the MOOC to achieve its fundamental goal of education for all. For entrepreneurs seeking to understand the meaning of their own travails, the stories will build resolve and galvanize action. The tales reflected in this book create a rich tapestry of the innovative ways entrepreneurs utilize the disruptive qualities of the MOOC to take charge of their own futures.

This book, published in early 2019 by the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) with Stylus Publishing, addresses the urgent need for community colleges to prioritize entrepreneurship education, both to remain relevant in a changing economy, and to graduate students with the flexible and interdisciplinary mindsets needed for the future of society. It argues that entrepreneurial education should be offered broadly to a wide range of students and across all disciplines; defines the key constructs for achieving this objective; and describes how to create entrepreneurial learning environments.

Foundation President and CEO Deborah Hoover provided a chapter called "The Ecosystem that Thrives" on the connection between entrepreneurship and philanthropy, illustrated with examples from the Northeast Ohio entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Foundation President publications

Foundation President and CEO Deborah Hoover has written a number of guest blogs and articles related to entrepreneurship for Smart Business Magazine, Crain's Cleveland Business, and other publications.

Latest News

"For most of us, the best chance to innovate lies at the Intersection... The Intersection represents a place that drastically increases the chances for unusual combinations to occur."

-Frans Johansson, The Medici Effect (2006)

About Us

Founded in 1967, the mission of Burton D. Morgan Foundation is to champion the entrepreneurial spirit. Morgan Foundation serves youth, collegiate and adult entrepreneurs by cultivating transformative opportunities and interlocking networks.

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In the Pipeline

Our e-newsletter features stories about the Foundation's grantmaking and shares information about our grantees, special events, and newsworthy activities taking place across the Northeast Ohio entrepreneurship ecosystem.